


hello world (i'm your wild girl)

by Quecksilver_Eyes



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Coming Out, F/F, Fluff, Slight Transphobia, Trans Female Character, not the trans character tho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-01-15 18:53:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12326841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quecksilver_Eyes/pseuds/Quecksilver_Eyes
Summary: Lily Evans spends her summer before her seventh year with Marlene McKinnon.





	hello world (i'm your wild girl)

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [hello world (i'm your wild girl)](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/329061) by angelfish. 



“This summer is going to be _fantastic_.“  
  
They’re standing by the open window in Marlene’s room and drink lemonade mixed with the fire whiskey Sirius stole from his father’s study. The sun is setting and the sky above the city has the colour of ripe apricots. It has rained today and the air smells fresh and green.  
  
Marlene puts on Patti Smith’s _Horses_. Eyes closed, she sways her hips. Sirius has given her the vinyl in spring, as a present, and Lily doesn’t know why it hurts to think about it. After a year of living in a separate room from all the others, no one has deserved this little bit of luck more than Marlene. She looks untroubled in her little flowing dress, for the first time. Her hair falls down on her shoulders and she’s not wearing a neckpiece to cover her Adam’s apple.  
  
It’s one of those moments that they’ll remember for their whole lives.  
  
#  
  
After they’ve bought the books for the upcoming school year in Diagon Alley, Marlene is dying to go to _Biba_. She drags Lily by the hand down Kensington High Street, enviably secure on her high heels, while Lily gathers her skirt in her free hand.  
  
Marlene is seemingly obsessed with _Biba_. She spends her money on new dresses and make up. In a magically enlarged hat box, she keeps what seems to be a never ending supply of deep red lipsticks and shimmering eye shadow. As soon as she has a new idea, she tries it out on Lily, “you have the face for it, darling”, she mumbles, eyes small and focused, and turns Lily into fairies and mermaids, with a myriad of brush strokes.  
  
She only wears light make up. “I’m not quite there yet”, she says. “I don’t want them to see me like this.“  
  
Not when Mary’s parents want to sue the school if Marlene gets a bed in the girls’ dorm, not when peers stare at her in the corridors.  
  
#  
  
“Do you like it? It’d suit you.“ Marlene holds up a dark purple mini dress. Lily hesitantly touches the fabric. “I don’t think it’ll fit me“, she says and bites her lower lip.  
  
In between the skinny girls with their doll faces and next to Marlene with her long, lean legs, she feels misshapen and too much. Her breasts are too heavy, her hips too wide and her thighs rub against each other. She’s sweating and wishes the ground would open itself up to swallow her whole, when the shop assistant eyes her up.  
  
“Mum could change it a bit. I can’t wear that colour.”  
“Yes, you can. You can wear anything”, Lily mumbles and takes a jacket off the rack, just so she can hold something in her hands, so she can concentrate on something. And Marlene finally notices.  
  
“I’m gonna pay, then we can go“, she says. “And Lily? They’re just jealous of those“, she gives a nod to her breasts, “they’re fantastic.“  
  
Lily smiles a lopsided smile.  
  
#  
  
This afternoon, they’re alone in the house. Marlene tries on her new dresses in front of the mirror and puts on lipstick. They listen to the _Runaways_ and Lily allows herself to quietly sing along. In jeans and a t-shirt, she feels a little more secure.  
  
“I’m sorry“, she says, then. “About what happened back there. I felt like they were all laughing at me.“  
Marlene turns around to face her, “You don’t have to apologize. I should’ve noticed that you weren’t feeling well.“  
  
Lily puts her hands in her pockets and looks at the floor. “You could’ve had more fun with Alice.“  
  
“Hey“, Marlene is near to her with just a few steps and puts a finger on her chin, “we’re having fun, aren’t we? We’re listening to music and we went to the cinema and we’re friends, Lily. And this is London. The best town in the world. We couldn’t have less fun if we tried.“  
  
She kisses Lily’s cheek and Lily has to restrain herself so she doesn’t kiss her on the lips.  
  
#  
  
By day, they walk through the city. Marlene convinces Lily to get her hair cut into bangs. They eat ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s, with James and Sirius. Lily lets them read her potions essays, after she made them promise not to copy them word for word.  
  
“I’m paying for your ice cream for the rest of your life for that“, James says, but she laughs and declines and for the first time, he lets it be.  
  
Sirus‘ parents threw him out and he carries it like a badge. The Potters let him stay in their guest bedroom. “But when I’m legal, I’m gonna get myself a flat. My uncle said, he’d help me.”, he smiles grimly, “My mother did not like that, let me tell you.“  
  
Marlene puts her slender hand on his shoulder, “tell me if you need help, okay?“, she says very insistently, and Lily wishes the boys would disappear. Even if she feels bad for Sirius.  
  
#  
  
They stay up at night. Sometimes they sneak into the kitchen to drink lemonade. Marlene talks about Sirius and how unjust his parents are. Lily agrees and hates Sirius a bit because she has to feel bad for him.  
  
Lily talks about Petunia and about how Severus tried to kiss her, not long before she went to London. Marlene makes a disgusted noise. “Did he ask you?” – “No, I would’ve never said yes.“ – “If he does that again, I’m gonna slap him.”  
  
  
On the weekend, past midnight, Mickey smuggles them into a club. He works there as a barkeeper. He gives Lily one of his old leather jackets, because it cools down after sunset, and when Lily looks into the mirror in the ladies’ bathroom, she actually likes what she sees. She shares a beer with Marlene and dances with her until morning.  
  
When they sneak back into the house at half past four, Marlene bumps into her and whispers: “My prince charming.“  
  
#  
  
“I like… I like girls“, Lily says. She’s sitting on the floor, her back against Marlene’s bed, next to her. “I’m never going to like James because I don’t like boys. Not like that, you know?”  
  
Petunia would laugh at her and she isn’t sure how her parents would react. But Marlene listens to her, head tilted, and looks at her with a small reassuring smile, and Lily takes a deep breath.  
  
“I’m a lesbian.”  
She knows that she’ll cry if she says more.  
  
Marlene puts an arm around her shoulder, “I’m proud of you, little one”, she whispers and kisses her forehead, „that’s been eating away at you for a long time, huh?“  
  
“You knew?”, Lily mumbles, her voice breaks and her throat feels as if someone tied a ribbon around it. “Mhm. Suspected. But I didn’t want to rush you. We all have to go through that.”  
  
Lily buries her face in her hands and her tears stream down her cheeks.  
  
#  
  
It’s a little step and she can’t bring herself to say everything, but it feels like, for the first time in her life she has opened a new chapter by herself.  
  
  
  
  
A/N: Marlene McKinnon is a trans girl and I hope to write more about her life in the future. On the one hand I wanted to show some good moments with her best friend, but I didn’t want to ignore the transphobia entirely, so I hope I’ve found a good balance.  
_Biba_ is a fashion label from the 60s/70s, that designed vintage clothes.  


**Author's Note:**

> Original Author's Note: Marlene McKinnon is a trans girl and I hope to write more about her life in the future. On the one hand I wanted to show some good moments with her best friend, but I didn’t want to ignore the transphobia entirely, so I hope I’ve found a good balance.  
> Biba is a fashion label from the 60s/70s that designed vintage clothes.


End file.
